AbstractThe internet is a wonderful tool for doing research, communicating with far-away friends and family, and keeping businesses efficient. However, it does not come without its problems and issues. There are literally hundreds of these problems and issues facing the internet today, but this extensive research paper covers only three big issues: privacy on social networks, software piracy and net neutrality. All three of these issues are different in their own ways, but equally affect all internet users. This paper will discuss the history of each issue and their positive and negative impacts on society. Towards the end of the paper you will find my final thoughts and opinion about the subjects.

IntroductionIf there is one thing to say about the internet, it is that it has certainly revolutionized the way people communicate and share and find information. Along with the telephone, electronic mail (email) has become a standard for contacting others, and organizations around the world now rely on the internet to keep them efficient and in business.

The first recorded account of the internet goes back to the early 1960s when J.C.R. Licklider of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent a series of memos over the internet to a colleague. He called this concept the “Galactic Network.” Licklider “envisioned a globably interconnected set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from any site” (Leiner et al). This concept is fairly accurate to what the internet is today.

Of course, the internet back then was designated only for the government and other top organizations of importance. It was not until the early and mid 1990s when the commercialization of the internet took place and the World Wide Web was established (Leiner et al). Today, around seventy-five percent of Americans have internet access in their homes and this percentage is only expected to rise in the future (Brauer-Rieke, 2009). While most home internet connections today are equipped with high-speed broadband connections, there are still households in the United States that utilize a dial-up connection. In fact, America Online still has 3.5 million dial-up subscribers paying an average of $17.50 per month for the service, and even though they lost 630,000 subscribers in the past year, they ended up adding 200,000 more subscribers in the past year as well. This has to do mostly with users living out in rural areas. Broadband connections are very expensive to bring to rural areas and it is why many people who live out in these areas do not have a broadband connection. However, while there are still some users who rely on a dial-up connection, America Online’s dial-up business has been in a permanent decline since 2002 (Frommer, 2011). The internet is not without concerns and issues, though. While it is a massive database of useful and helpful information waiting to be absorbed and is also a great way to communicate with people around the world, there are certain aspects that users must be aware of. There are certainly many issues that can be discussed, but I will specifically talk about three subtopics that are presently a concern for internet users: privacy on social networks, software piracy and net neutrality. They all face a different set of issues and concerns, but still affect everyone in some form. I will be diving into each one of these three subtopics and will discuss the background...

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